Group protests Fort Hood deployments

Updated 12:02 am, Friday, May 27, 2011

Kyle Wesolowski, who served in the Army in Iraq, speaks at a protest outside Fort Hood. The protesters are seeking a sit-down with Fort Hood’s commander, Lt. Gen. Don Campbell Jr.

Kyle Wesolowski, who served in the Army in Iraq, speaks at a protest outside Fort Hood. The protesters are seeking a sit-down with Fort Hood’s commander, Lt. Gen. Don Campbell Jr.

Photo: Sig Christenson

Group protests Fort Hood deployments

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KILLEEN — Veterans opposed to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars stood Thursday atop a two-story guard tower off Fort Hood in a symbolic watch that protested continued combat deployments here.

Leaders of Iraq Veterans Against the War said the Army had sent large numbers of GIs into combat with serious mental injuries and that it was up to Fort Hood's new commander, Lt. Gen. Don Campbell Jr., to help them.

“We see Gen. Campbell as our target,” said former Spc. Scott Kimball, who served in Iraq. “As the new corps commander, he is accountable for his soldiers and we're putting him on watch.”

The protest, consisting of a handful of veterans and about as many reporters, across from the post's East Gate came hours after Fort Hood sent troops from a 1st Cavalry Division brigade to Afghanistan, the latest in a series of farewells dating to the 2003 Iraq invasion.

Kimball's group, which demands an immediate end to both wars, said thousands of GIs have been sent to war despite suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

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Army regulations require soldiers to be psychologically and physically fit before deploying. Troops can deploy only if an existing condition is not expected to worsen.

Fort Hood, Kimball said, was picked for the protest in part because of its suicides. Five Hood soldiers have killed themselves this year, the highest of any Army installation. The post last year set an Army suicide record, 22, despite prevention efforts.

The group's leaders complained that Campbell hasn't met with them even after supporters and members sent him more than 600 email messages.

“We are veterans,” said one-time Spc. Kyle Wesolowski, an Iraq veteran discharged honorably from Hood days ago on conscientious-objector status. “Just like him, we served in the military, and I think we deserve the respect to have a sit-down with General Campbell to speak upon these important issues that are plaguing Fort Hood.”

Campbell didn't comment, but Fort Hood spokesman Chris Haug said the general would respond “when they're ready for a two-way conversation.”

Wesolowski said more than 7,000 Fort Hood soldiers were on antidepressants or antipsychotic medications in 2009, and that the post's psychological counselors meet with 4,000 patients a month. Fort Hood statistics show that 10,766 troops were on four mental health drugs last year, down one-third from 2009.

A spokesman for Fort Hood's hospital, Jeri Chappelle, said at least 156,100 behavioral health encounters occurred last year as staffing increased 35 percent. “No soldier goes untreated. The only soldiers that don't get treated are the ones who don't come to us,” she said.

The latest Army mental health study underscored the continuing impact of the nation's long wars. Joint Mental Health Advisory Team 7 found that soldiers on third and fourth tours had “significantly more psychological problems and use of mental health medications” than GIs on their first and second deployments. Still, the use of medication was actually lower than civilians in a similar demographic group.

Col. Paul Bliese said his MHAT team expected serious mental health problems because troops had faced a high level of combat. They found those GIs were more resilient than soldiers in previous studies that documented intense combat, but it isn't clear how they adjust at home.

Standing atop the rickety scaffold that served as the antiwar group's tower, former Illinois ArmyNational Guard Sgt. Aaron Hughes, 29, of Chicago said Campbell had to care for troops suffering from combat trauma.

“We also want him to stop the deployment of traumatized soldiers. Service members have a right to heal,” said Hughes, who served in Iraq from 2003-04. “We served our time and we deserve to be taken care of. It's part of the officer's creed.”